Tuesday, September 25, 2012

I was having the hardest time with this page.Like… I had to start over at one point.It was that god-awful. And it’s still not great… but it is presentable.Amusingly enough, I only really managed to get it rolling after the Equinox, because I spent that evening out and about (and even around a huge bonfire to boot), and it got the creative juices rolling.So long as it doesn’t become a crutch, I do think that sometimes the best way to get artwork done is to get out of the studio, away from the computer, and do something else, though hopefully, something related.

I’m heading into a busy season… with Fall started and Halloween activities up and running, I have a very few weekends to do a lot of things.But it’s so gonna be worth it.One of my flightier friends just asked me to go to a haunt with her.I’m gonna have to peel her off of the ceiling and it’s gonna be aaawwweeeesome.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Next week we’ll be back to a more earthly environment, though, a less interesting one, depending on your point of view.Also, no, explanations will not be given just yet.I’m sure some of you are happy for that, but I’ll bore you all later ;3

It’s been an interesting week here… ranging from finding that I need new tires for my car, to delighting in the change of seasons.This Saturday is the first day of autumn, so, if you like summer, be sure to cherish the last days of it, or, if you’re like me, make some time to do some frolicking on the first day of autumn.

Now, if you pardon me, I’m going to engage in the questionable decision of drinking some Newcastle Werewolf Ale while trying to make art.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

… What is this comic?What the hell is going on?Odds are, you’re wondering this.And that’s good: Faith feels the same way. I wavered on this… I knew I wanted this as a splash page while scripting… but it wasn’t until late in that phase that I decided to make it a two-page spread.I really wanted to emphasize how expansive this environment was.Also, yes, I know: This looks very science-fiction.What can I say? I have a strong basis in science fiction in terms of influences… I was raised by trekkies after all.

So… first off, I will say… I swear to god, even though this looks very, very strange, I actually do have folkloric tie-ins here.I just… can’t talk about it yet, because it pops up later in this chapter, where I will bombard you with all sort of stuff regarding ideas and influences, but I ask ya to be patient. It’s part of how things go when I show this to you as I go, rather than wait save it till later. I’m finally starting to tie some more things back to stuff that I set up in the second chapter.However, while I don’t want to go too deep into what’s going on, I can go into one of the many influences here…

Back in spring of 2010, I was just starting production on Layline, and was doing bits of preproduction sketches and doodles for things that chapter was setting up for later chapters, like this one (though the first hints of this was in the first chapter).This was one scene that I had just started poking around with, and everything felt really blasé.I wanted space but not space.I wanted ~*Magical*~ space ooooooooooh… and I wasn’t very happy with what I had.I kept looking up at the night sky, and basing my stuff off of what I saw, but it wasn’t enough, so, on my next day off I went about doing research, and ended up at a local museum which has space stuff.They happened to have an IMAX theater that was showing a brand-new film: Hubble.It showed me images I had seen before in a whole new way, and gave the tiny photos in my books the same kind of awe-inspiring scope of the night sky I had been trying to capture.So, I immediately got home, cracked open some books, and got to work. After getting some info on runes, alchemy, the northern lights and such… That evening, I had something workable. :3

So, thank NASA.If it weren’t for their hard work, this wouldn’t be all that cool.In fact… thank any scientists you know.Many of them have very thankless jobs, but help make this world a better place, and inspire people like me to do what I do best.

Also, sorry if I’ve been slow to respond to some of you guys.I’ve had company for the past week, and that takes a lot of my time (But in a good way!).